It's not "Better spent" nothing in Syndergaard's QO or offer procludes ANYONE from spending other money. It's not related. there is no salary cap. Breaking: cranky prospect guy over-values draft pick. Look, if the Mets can swing that draft pool money bonus as a way to sign someone EXCELLENT they might not otherwise have been able to, this works out, but there's no reason to think there's some sort of calculated plan here when the people, supposedly, going to make those decisions aren't even here yet. The logic from the Angels side is that Thor wasn't going to accept like 2/25 or something, where you try to ship this year in hopes that he's bolstered for next year. You HAD to pay him at least $20 this year or he would've taken the QO. That's pretty clear. The Angels are going for it, and even 20 starts of 100 IP from him is light years above "just sign a back end starter to replace him" nonsense that Law's pitching there for the Mets. The Mets were supposed to WIN last year. They could've, if they made better signings, spent more money, had better personnel in place or handled injuries differently. There's a lot of turnover now, but this wasn't a team that was supposed to be retooling for 2024+, which is the only way getting a stupid pick and losing a top pitcher makes sense.